Looms for weaving carpets, especially axminster carpets



H. BUD 3,292,663

LOOMS FOR WEAVING CARPETS, ESPECIALLY AXMINSTER CARPETS Dec. 20, 1966 I5Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 26, 1965 1 12 fij i l'dl Inventor v HAN: Bu]:

By ma 8 M Attorney:

LOOMS FOR wmvwa CARPETS, ESPECIALLY AXMINSTER CARPETS Filed Feb. 26,1965 H. BUD

Dec. 20,1966

5 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 7

FIG.9'

NVENTOR I HANS BUD ATTORNEYS v Hr BUD Dec. 20, 1966 LOOMS FOR WEAVING,CARPETS, ESPECIALLY AXMINSTER CARPETS 5 Sheets-Sheet :5

Filed Feb. 26, 1965 lnuen lor 1mm 4:0

By M15, 8

A Manley;

United States Patent 3 292,663. LOOMS FOR WEAVIISIG CARPETS, ESPECIALLYAXMINSTER CARPETS Hans Bud, London, England, assignor to English Nmibering Machines Limited, Enfield, England, a British company FiledFeb. 26, 1965, Ser. No. 435,615 Claims priority, application GreatBritain, Mar. 3, 1964, 8,842/ 64 4 Claims. (Cl. 139-10) The inventionrelates to tubes for use in looms for weaving carpets, especiallyAxminster carpets.

Axminster carpet looms have a carrier provided with a series of metalmembers formed by flat metal tubes, each tube being wider at one endthan at the other, the wide end being sloped relative to the tube axis,and the tube wall near the wide end being slotted for facilitatingfixing of the tubes to the carrier. As is known, in use of the looms,tufting yarns are threaded through the tubes.

It is an object of the invention to re-design such tubes so that theycan be easily manufactured of plastic material and can be easilyattached to and detached from a loom for weaving Axminster and othercarpets.

It is another object of the invention to provide such tubes made ofplastic material which can easily be moulded.

These and other objects and advantages will become apparent to thoseskilled in the art from the following detailed description of myinvention when read with reference to the accompanying drawings, whichare given by way of example and in which:

FIG. 1 shows in side elevation a plastics tube having flat side wallsfor use in a loom for weaving carpets;

FIGS. 2 to 6 show views taken in cross section along the lines II-II toVIVI, respectively, of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 illustrates a section along the line VII--VII of FIG. 1; 7

FIG. 8 illustrates a perspective view of the tube of FIG. 1;

FIG. 9 illustrates, in section, a part of the tube of FIG. 1 held in aconventional tube carrier of a loom for weaving Axminster carpets;

FIG. 10 shows a side view taken in elevation of a modified form of theplastics tube having flat side walls; and

FIGS. 11 to 15 show views taken in cross-section along the lines XIXI toXV-XV, respectively, of FIG. 10.

The tube shown in FIGS. 1 to 8 is made of synthetic plastic material,and has two flat side walls 1 joined by a top wall 2 and a curved bottom3, the bottom 3 being slightly inclined towards the top wall 2 along apart of the length of the tube. The top wall 2 is turned outwardly ofthe tube by a small amount at one end of the tube to form a lip 4, whichserves to wedge the tube in position when the tube is mounted in a tubecarrier 50 (FIG. 9) as described below.

Each of the side walls 1 is formed with a circular opening 5,. and arectangular abutment 6 and an end abutment 7, the two abutments 7 beingformed at an end 8 of the tube, this end 8 being the end of the tube atwhich the lip 4 is formed and being wider than the opposite end of thetube. As can be seen from FIG. 1, the wide end 8 is sloped relative tothe axial direction of the tube. On each side wall 1, the abutment 6 hasan abutment edge 9 spaced from an abutment edge 10 on the abutment 7, inthe axial direction of the tube, by a distance a corresponding to thewidth of a bridge member 51 of the tube carrier 50 (FIG. 9) on which thetube is mounted when in use, as described below. The abutment edge 10extends over the entire width of the corresponding side wall 1, and theabutment edge 9 extends only across a part of the width of this wall andforms one edge of the rectangular abutment 6, which slopes and mergeswith the flat wall 1 on the other three sides thereof.

The plastic tube shown in FIG. 10 is similar to that shown in FIG. 1 andthe same reference numerals have accordingly been employed to indicatethe same partsin both of these figures.

However, instead of the circular openings 5 shown in FIG. 1 the sidewalls of the tube shown in FIG. 10 are each formed with an opening 30which is generally rectangular when viewed in elevation and the bottomof which is defined by a surface 31 (FIG. 12) which is inclined relativeto the side wall 1 to facilitate removal of the tube from a mould formaking the same. Also, instead of the abutment 6 of the tube shown inFIG. 1, the tube shown in FIG. 10 is formed with a smaller rectangularabutment 33 having :more gradually sloping side walls 34 and 35 on twosides thereof. The abutment 33 has an abutment edge 36 extending acrossonly part of the width of the tube, the abutment edge 36 beingperpendicular to the axial direction of the tube and to thecorresponding side wall 1, and the fourth side 37 of the abutment 33 isinclined to the corresponding side wall 1 but with a greater slope thanthe side walls 34 and 35.

In use, the plastic tube is'inserted into a tube carrier '50 (FIG. 9) ofan Axminster loom. Such tube carriers conventionally comprise a bridgemember 51 provided with a plurality of slots for receiving the tubes.With the tubes shown in FIGS. 1 and 10, the abutments 6 and 7 or 33 and7 are spaced apart from each other in the axial direction of the tube bya distance a cor-responding to the width of the bridge member of thetube carrier so that said bridge member can enter the space betweenthese abutments. The-lip 4 bears against, and is slightly resilientlydeformed by, a part of the tube carrier, for example a spring member,for wedging the tube securely in position. The lip 4 also facilitatesthe entry of the yarn tufts into the tube.

The formation of the abutments on the flat walls of the plastic tubes bymoulding provides a convenient and cheap Way of providing means on thetubes for securing the same to the bridge member and avoids anynecessity for forming slots by a separate manufacturing step in walls ofmetal tubes as with hitherto usual. Moreover, the use of plastic tubes,which term as used throughout this specification embraces thermoplasticstubes and tubes of other mouldable synthetic materials, has theadvantage that when in use in carpet looms the knives of such looms areless liable to be damaged by contact with the present plastics tubesthan with the metal tubes previously employed. Such contact mayaccidently occur when damaged tubes fall from the tube carrier as thetuft yarn is fed through the tubes, or when the tube carriers are notproperly gripped or located at the weaving station. Replacing the knivesnecessitates halting production on the looms, and regrinding of theknives is an expensive process. It is therefore advantageous to reducedamage of the knives to a minimum.

Plastic tubes are also less liable to damage the tuft yarn or to bedamaged while being threaded with the tuft yarn, and in transport andhandling between such threading operations and mounting of the tubes onthe looms. When metal tubes are used, such damage can cause sharpexternal or internal edges on the tubes. The external sharp edges tendto cut the threads which form the bases of the carpets, while theinternal sharp edges may cut the yarn which passes through the tubes,both of which can cause stoppage of the looms. Also, plastics tubes donot corrode.

It should be clearly understood that the specific embodiments describedand illustrated are given merely by way of example and that manymodifications, omissions and additions are possible without departingfrom the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. A plastic tube for use in carpet looms, comprising two generally flatside walls and four abutments projecting from said side walls, two ofsaid abutments being proyided on one of said flat walls and the othertwo of said abutments being provided on the other one of said flatWalls, the said two abutments of each wall being spaced apart from eachother in the axial direction of the tube by a distance substantiallycorresponding in Width to a bridge member of a tube carrier so that saidbridge mem- 4. A tube as defined in claim 3, wherein one of said ber canenter the space between said two abutments of each of said side walls,said tube being wider at one end than at the other end, the wider end ofsaid tube being sloped relative to the axial direction of said tube, thesaid abutments being provided at the wider end of said tube.

2. A plastic tube as defined in claim 1, and comprising a lip extendingoutwardly of the tube at the wider end thereof.

3. A tube as defined in claim 1, wherein said four abutments each havean abutment edge perpendicular to said axial direction.

entire width of said flat wall, the other abutment edge extending onlyacross a part of the width of said flat wall and forming an edge of arectangle which slopes and merges into the flat wall at opposite sidesof said abutment.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,329,302 1/1920Lea 13910 1,621,453 3/1927 BiX-by 13910 2,608,215 8/1952 Robb 139102,806,252 9/1957 Bishop 1826 FOREIGN PATENTS 178,228 4/ 1922 GreatBritain.

'MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner.

20 H. S. JAUDON, Assistant Examiner.

1. A PLASTIC TUBE FOR USE IN CARPET LOOMS, COMPRISING TWO GENERALLY FLATSIDE WALLS AND FOUR ABUTMENTS PROJECTING FROM SAID SIDE WALLS, TWO OFSAID ABUTMENTS BEING PROVIDED ON ONE OF SAID FLAT WALLS AND THE OTHERTWO OF SAID ABUTMENTS BEING PROVIDED ON THE OTHER ONE OF SAID FLATWALLS, THE SAID TWO ABUTMENTS OF EACH WALL BEING SPACED APART FROM EACHOTHER IN THE AXIAL DIRECTION OF THE TUBE BY A DISTANCE SUBSTANTIALLYCORRESPONDING IN WIDTH TO A BRIDGE MEMBER OF A TUBE CARRIER SO THAT SAIDBRIDGE MEMBER CAN ENTER THE SPACE BETWEEN SAID TWO ABUTMENTS OF EACH OFSAID SIDE WALLS, SAID TUBE BEING WIDER AT ONE END THAN AT THE OTHER END,THE WIDER END OF SAID TUBE BEING